"Wisconsin Refs" - 3 Person Question

[Rich]

Originally Posted by GoodwillRef

Deb Hauser (WIAA) doesn't think we have enough quality 3-Person officials to work 3-person for the entire tournament...and she is right. She answered this question at a camp I was working at last summer.

She is right, but the state (IMO) has failed to push hard enough in the direction of 3-person officiating.

(1) Mandate 3-person for all varsity games

(Amazing how not a single varsity football game is worked 4-person, even when the schools involved pass 10 times between them the ENTIRE game.)

(2) Suggest a pay structure for 2-3 years where the officials have to take a 3-for-2 deal for the first 2 or so years and this gives the schools time to figure out how to pay the extra $1300 or so that it would take to cover 22 varsity games (11 boys, 11 girls).

(3) The conferences should simply say: "For the next 2 seasons, we're hiring 3 officials and we are paying $40 per. Either you work it or you don't. Please let us know where you've received state-approved 3-person training." If the officials aren't willing to do this, hire people who are. Deal with the pain of transition and acknowledge that it won't be seamless.

(4) Restructure the playoffs so that half the first round is played on Tuesday and half on Wednesday. Do the same with the second round. Problem eliminated. You do not need to have every girls' team in the state playing on Tuesday February 26.

It's easy to say "there aren't enough good officials." The hard thing is to think outside the box and fix the problem with the goal being 3-person in every varsity game in the state within 3 years.

(It'll never happen.)

And the state should support those who WANT to work 3-person. Last season I worked a boys varsity game with a guy who spent the entire time there complaining about 3-person. He rotated ONCE the entire game (which was one more time than the other guy, while I kept annoying them by rotating whenever the play dictated, sometimes multiple times in a trip). Kept saying how he can't wait until they go back to 2-man. Then I turn on the state tourney and he's working. Gotta love it.